This invention relates generally to devices for cleaning paint rollers, and, more particularly, to a device that can clean a paint roller by direct connection to a faucet with a minimum of manual labor.
The introduction of paint rollers has eased the labor required to paint walls and other surfaces, and has enabled the average individual to achieve generally excellent results. Attendant with the use of paint rollers is the question of how best to clean the roller for re-use, assuming that using a paint roller once and then disposing of it is both expensive and wasteful of resources.
A typical paint roller assembly is comprised of a cylindrical sleeve formed of generally rigid material, with a tufted or fibrous nap secured to the outer circumferential surface. The sleeve is generally removably secured to an inner mandrel or wire frame that is rotatably secured to a handle. After a paint roller has been used, the nap is saturated with paint, and the paint must be removed before it dries if the roller is to be reused. It is common practice to manually removed the sleeve from the mandrel, and rinse the sleeve in solvent appropriate for the type of paint being used. For water-based paints, such as latex compounds, the roller sleeve may be held under the stream of water from a faucet or hose while the nap is rubbed manually to work the paint free of the fibers. This process is very messy, time consuming, and unpleasant.
There are known in the prior art several forms of paint roller cleaners that are designed to ease the process of cleaning the paint from the roller sleeve nap so that it may be re-used. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,280, there is described a paint roller cleaning apparatus in which the roller is supported in a tubular housing while water under pressure is fed through a manifold having holes that direct fine streams of water against the outer surface of the roller sleeve. The individual streams do not provide complete coverage of the surface of the roller sleeve, even though the roller is driven by the streams to rotate, nor do the holes allow for maximum water flow to carry away the paint in the nap.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3, 421,527, 4,765,354, and 4,811,749, paint roller cleaners are described which include a tubular housing connected to a water source, and the water is directed to flow longitudinally along the inner surface of the tube and through the roller sleeve nap to remove the paint therefrom. The water enters the tubular housing at one end, where it is divided to flow radially outwardly toward the inner surface of the housing. One problem common to these designs is that the radial flow and the resultant longitudinal flow is not uniform, resulting in a cleaning effect that is not uniform about the roller sleeve. There remains a need in the art for a paint roller cleaner that is simple to use, reliable, and effective.